Blog - Canto Community Choir

Fascinating explorations of choir and group singing in all shapes and sizes

“Wellerman” or “Soon may the Wellerman come” to give it its full title, is a sea shanty originating in New Zealand

This sea shanty reflects the experiences and emotions of sailors as they navigated the challenges of whaling in the South Pacific.

The English born Weller brothers, Joseph, Edward and George had moved to Sydney in 1839 and went on to found a whaling station near what is now Dunedin in the South Island of New Zealand.

The song tells the tale of a whaling ship, the Billy O’ Tea, and its crew who eagerly await the arrival of the "Wellerman," a supply ship from the Weller brothers, who were known for providing provisions to whalers. The refrain encapsulates the themes of hope and camaraderie among sailors as they anticipate the arrival of supplies, including sugar and tea, while also facing the perilous realities of their trade, including encounters with sperm whales.

The Wellerman

So last night (25 March 2025) we had our first attempt at learning the transcription of the Kecak

This simplified transcription of the Balinese 'Monkey Dance' immitates the chattering of mischeivous monkeys and is a really good exercise in using the voice for accurate percussive rhythm.

Here is an extract of our first go at the Kecak:

The origins of the Kecak

Saint Patrick's Breastplate

And from the same evening here is an extract of the 'epic bit' from St Patrick's Breastplate...

Saint Patrick sang his prayer

Kecak

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Around the year 433 Saint Patrick was in trouble

He had broken the pagan law by lighting the Easter fire.

The High King of Ireland, Lóegaire mac Néill, summoned him to Tara. As Patrick had been a slave of the country it was most likely that the summons was to result in the death penalty. Nevertheless, Saint Patrick braved the danger for the chance to secure the king’s permission to evangelise the island.

Placing the mission in God’s hands, Saint Patrick and his companions set forth on Easter Sunday and as they travelled they sang a particular hymn as protection. Saint Patrick suspected that the king’s men were lying in wait to ambush and kill him in the dark forest between Slane and Tara.

St Patrick's Breastplate

The prayerful song they sang is known as Saint Patrick’s “Lorica” - Latin for the breastplate of a Roman soldier and potentially harks back to new testament letter to the Ephesians where Saint Paul writes ‘Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place’. (Eph 6:14)

The story goes that as the soldiers waited to ambush Saint Patrick they only came across a small group of deer which they allowed to pass by. This explains why Saint Patrick's Breastplate is also known as the Deer's Cry. The mission to convert King Lóegaire and his subjects from paganism to Christianity succeeded.

There are many settings of the prayer and one can only wonder what the original musical setting of Patrick's singing was.

The following video is Jean Watson's contemporary setting of a shortened form of the prayer.

This song has been arranged for Canto in time for Saint Patrick’s Day 2025.

Listen to the video of the song

The medieval English Cuckoo round

The preserved manuscript of this song was copied around 1261. Although the composer is not known it was possibly written by W. de Wycombe (William of Winchcombe) or perhaps a monk at Reading Abbey. It is the oldest known music featuring six-part harmony.

The musical form is a Rota (latin: "Wheel") a type of Round. If you look carefully at the manuscript you will see a red cross indicating when the next voice (starting at the beginning) should enter.

Sumer is icumen in (first two lines)

The story of a world-famous song (with curly hair!)

Imagine you’re a schoolteacher on your end of term break. You’ve just finished your breakfast on Christmas Eve in the year 1818 when there’s a panicked rap on the door.

Bleary-eyed, you open the door to the local young priest who is clutching a piece of paper. “We have a major problem “ he blurts.

So you invite him in and pacing up and down eventually says. “Franz, You can’t play the organ at midnight mass tonight. The river burst its banks last night and although the flood has subsided from the church - the organ is completely ruined.”

What happened next?